REGENT THEATRE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 183, 20 August 1937, Page 13

REGENT THEATRE

"ELEPHANT BOY," ' "Elephant Boy," which sereens at Ihe Kegent to-night, is more than a mere film. It is an object lesson — an object-lesson deinonstrating that all the high-powered equipment of the studio is liot indispensabie to the making of a realJy great film. "Jilephant Boy" has bcen made almost entirely outdoors. No elaborate aids of incandescent lighting, of iavish sottiug, were eniisted in its making. Yet the film stands on a peak of eminence m spite of it all— or rather, perkaps, because of it, If or its settmg is the formidable magmhcence oi lndia's mountain and jungie, and its cast is coinposed of simplo characters in the gxant elephants oi india and their all-wise, understanding and gentle mahouts. The story doea tiot rely npon ingemons subtleties for its efl'ect; it does not have to. Kipling's •'ioomai of the •Eiephants" fur^ nished its basis and lrom that material has been made a splendid film. This film is notable for two thipgs, the direetion of Kobert Flaherty and the acting of Sabu, a I3-year-old Indian boy. Sabu is responsible for a wonderfully eonvineing portrayal in the part of 'ioomai. His aeting is biinple and straightforward. The production contains many impressive and spectacular scenes that are characteristic of films 1 uroduced bv Alexander Korda.